The capitalist frankly told Max and Len, as the three sat a little apart from the others, that he had great faith in that region, and was willing to invest a reasonable amount of money in any prospect that gave him sufficient encouragement.

He recalled how the attempt had been made to dupe him at Old Bob’s diggings a short distance below, and said that he had felt so well satisfied that nothing this creek could show was good, that he had resolved never to look at any property on its banks again.

At the same time, the behavior of Mr. Brehm, during the examination of Bob’s prospect-hole to which he had just alluded, was so upright and intelligent, that when he heard{196} that something different had been discovered on Panther Creek, and by whom, he had readily consented to come and see it. “Now I want to see all you have to show me; and if you have anything good, I’ve no doubt we can make some sort of a bargain. But I don’t profess to understand these things as well as some, and at any rate two heads are better than one. ‘In a multitude of counsellors there is wisdom,’ the Wise Man says. Therefore I shall ask you to let my superintendent go in with us.”

This long speech was not in the least tiresome to its hearers, as you may well believe; indeed they took a great liking to Mr. Anderson’s frank, bluff, and business-like manner, which inspired both respect and confidence.

At once, therefore, the little lamps were lighted, old canvas coats were lent to the visitors, and the four started into the Last Chance tunnel, Max leading the way, and Len bringing up the rear.

Sandy remained at the cabin, partly because{197} he felt himself an outside factor, and partly to bear company with Buckeye Jim, Morris, and the Deputy Sheriff, who were guarding the prisoner, and chatting over Rocky Mountain adventures in a way very entertaining to the Scotchman.

Apologies for the unworkman-like condition of the mine were unnecessary, since everybody knew the history of the undertaking, so that nothing was said until the inner chamber had been reached, at the crosscut, the shape and situation of which was first explained to the visitors.

“Is your title unquestionable?” asked Mr. Anderson.

“Yes; we had the papers examined by a lawyer, and the transfer properly recorded. There is no flaw, that we can discover.”

“Where does this water come from?”

“Mainly from a surface seam. I think it could be drained off above ground by a little engineering, and thus stopped entirely without much expense.”{198}

While this colloquy was in progress, the superintendent had taken up a pick and chipped off some pieces of rock from the roof and sides of the vein, at which he was looking very sharply under the flame of his smoky lamp. Lennox noticed with a thrill of gratification how his expert eye, with the instinctive perception acquired by a long training, threw away what they had learned was worthless rock, while the brown stuff, which they had proved to be valuable, was selected for closer examination.

“This is queer-looking stuff,” he remarked, “I never came across anything just like it. What do you take it to be, Mr. Brehm?”

“That, sir,” Max replied, with a bit of tremor in his voice, for this was the first announcement, “that, sir, I suppose to be a telluride of gold, carrying about twenty-eight ounces to the ton.”

“Great Scott! That’s the best show of gold in these parts! And this black grit must be a lead-carbonate!”{199}

“So we are told by Denver assayers. They pronounce it a soft carbonate, rich in lead and iron, and worth—here’s the letter—about one hundred and twenty dollars to the ton.”

Both Mr. Anderson and the superintendent were vastly interested by this information, which evidently they accepted as true. The latter gentleman read aloud the assayer’s statement of his analysis of the ore, and pointed out that it gave very little black-jack, antimony, etc., which indicated that the ore would be easy to smelt, a most important consideration in estimating its value.

“Is the whole vein, so far as you have gone, like this?” Mr. Anderson asked, as he held up his light, and scrutinized the walls and roof of the small chamber.

“No; there is not much at the very entrance, though, after we learned to recognize them, we could find traces of both the carbonate and telluride clear to the door-way, but we saw much more in the interior, and argued that the deeper we went the richer the mine{200} would grow, which has proved true up to the present time. If it hadn’t been for those pesky jumpers, we should have gone several yards deeper.”

“The vein doesn’t seem to be uniformly composed of the ore minerals.”

“No, it has been growing very strange in its distribution of late, a fact we began to notice when we were about two-thirds of the way to this point. The lode gradually became filled with more or less globular cavities, which steadily increased in size. The wall of each of these cavities is formed almost wholly of the telluride, and the spaces between are pretty nearly dead rock. Inside, whenever they are small,—there are some little ones in the roof, just over your head, which show it well,—they are quite filled with nearly solid carbonate; but when they are larger—the last one we struck, you can see a remnant of it in the breast, was as big as a barrel—they are only partly full, and the ore of the interior soft and crumbling.”{201}

“They are like miniature caves or monstrous geodes,” said Mr. Anderson.

“Yes,” Len put in—he had been quiet as long as he could stand it, “and sometimes we are warned of what is ahead by the hollow sound.”

“Maybe we can find one now, to show you,” Max suggested; and, taking a pick, he moved toward the extremity of the tunnel, whither the re............